Ugly Day For Simon, Isles
March 9th, 2007 by Tom
I’ve watched the replays of Chris Simon’s shot to Ryan Hollweg more than a dozen times now and it gets uglier everytime. I don’t know Chris Simon. I’m sure he didn’t want to seriously injure, maim, or kill Hollweg, as some pundits have discussed. But the bottom line is it was a dirty play, as dirty as there has been in the modern NHL, right up there with Todd Bertuzzi’s blindside attack on Steve Moore, Marty McSorley’s shot to Donald Brashear, and Dale Hunter’s hit on Pierre Turgeon. Simon has to pay for what he did and that means a lengthy suspension and a fine and knowing that his name will forever be linked to one terrible decision that could have caused a far worse outcome. He’s lucky Hollweg skated away from this.
Here’s what some folks are saying about the hit and the game:
“I’ve always been known as a team guy, and I feel real bad about letting the team down. I think I’ll wait until I talk to the league office, and then I’ll answer all questions afterward,” Simon told ESPN.com.
“I just finished my check on the half wall,” Hollweg told ESPN. “I think he was a little fazed by it. I turned around, and the next thing I knew he’s winding up and hitting me in the face.”
“Any time you see things that are not part of the game, you’re disappointed no matter who it is,” Nolan said to Newsday.
“That’s bleeping embarrassing – I think that’s just as bad as what Marty McSorley did to (Donald) Brashear,” Sean Avery said to the N.Y. Daily News. “You can’t just two-hand a guy in the face with your stick.”
“At first I thought it was a save and then I looked at one replay and it looked like a goal,” Lundqvist said to the N.Y. Times. “I think we deserved this after a lot of games this year that have gone the other way. We finally got that extra luck that we need in this game after such small things being the difference.”
murph Says
great quote from LCS Hockey
“Let’s just see if Colin Campbell finally does something about this stuff and doesn’t give him three games like he gave that other meathead from New Jersey,” said Sean Avery.
How ignorant, inane, and incompetent does a league have to be for Sean Avery to be the voice of reason?
http://www.lcshockey.com/content/030907.asp
Mar 9th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
ropadope Says
What a dick. He deserves whatever happens to him — from here on out.
Mar 9th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
jim kleissler Says
Gotta wonder what issues Simon has to do something like that. Embarassing moment for our Islanders. I was pretty much just stunned listening to the reports on sports radio this morning of what happened (missed the action last night too).
Mar 9th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
ZamboniMan Says
Chris Simon screwed up bad! I know this, ok? But he’s going to miss more NHL games for a reactionary hit than Todd Bertuzzi, whose team vowed that Steve Moore “definitely has a bounty on his head,” weeks before Bertuzzi ended Moore’s career. Bert’s butt-buddy teammate, Brad May, continued the above quote with “…and it’s gonna be fun when we get (Steve Moore).” WHEN we get him!!! The premeditation of of that incident is what pisses me off that Bertuzzi, whose victim will likely never play again, only missed 20 NHL games. Now, I know Gary Bettman extended that suspension for the majority of 17 months… BUT 15 of those months, NOBODY played in the NHL!!! I knew Simon would get a lengthy suspension, for he is a repeat offender, but so was Bertuzzi: 10 games for exitting the bench to join a fight between Ed Jovanovski and –hmm, an Avalanche player– Scott Parker. And, lest we forget, Bertuzzi’s also the guy who deliberately directed a slapshot at then-Red Wings coach and HHOFer Scotty Bowman.
That said, I do NOT condone Simon’s slash to the face of Hollweg, but his suspension, having a minimum of 25 games guarantees he will miss more games than any other player — or coach, for that matter (Toe Blake was fined 2000$US in 1961 for jumping off the bench to punch referee Dalton MacArthur, but missed no games) — in the history of the league. Based on precendents, this suspension is too long.
Also, Sean Avery just knew the right thing to say. I will never buy his voice as one of reason! Funny he called Cam Janssen a meathead, because Avery has made his career being no more than a meathead.
GO ISLES!
P.S. A note to Ted Nolan and Garth Snow:
If the Islanders are to continually support Simon throughout this ordeal, the best way to do so is to re-sign him next year!
Mar 12th, 2007 at 8:35 pm